Hello everyone. This has probably been asked before and forgive me if it has, but I’m looking into getting a pellet grill and wanted to ask what is the best quality and affordable one. I read on one site that Traeger is top of the line then look at another site and says that the quality has gone down tremendously and Pit Boss is better then another site says that Pit Boss’ are trash. Do r mean to be so long winded and thank you for your input.
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Choosing Pellet Smoker
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Club Member
- Dec 2019
- 2254
- Venice, FL
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Napoleon Prestige Pro 500
Yoder YS640S
Anova Sous Vide
Avid Armor AVS 7900
Instapot
2 Cuisinart Food Processors
Black Thermapen One
Gray Thermapen Mk4
Red Thermapen Mk4
Thermoworks Smoke
Fireboard
Napoleon AccuProbe Thermometer
2 Thermoworks RT8100
There are a number of high quality pellet cooker manufacturers. A key question is what do you mean by “affordable”? I think if we had some idea of your budget, we could give you our suggestions. For instance, I really like my Yoder YS640, but if $2400 is outside your budget, that’s meaningless to you.
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Club Member
- Nov 2021
- 3649
- Alexandria, VA
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Pit Boss Copperhead 5 vertical pellet smoker
Weber Spirit 3-burner LPG grill w/GrillGrates
SnS Deluxe Kettle
Joule sous vide wand & tub
SnS-500 4-probe w/RF remote monitor (w/extra probes)
Fireboard 2 w/extra probes
Meater+ Wifi/Bluetooth T probe
ThermoPro instant read
Fluke 62Max IR gun thermometer
Full set Mercer knives
WorkSharp Ken Onion sharpener
Weber toolset (tongs, spatula, etc)
Meat Your Maker 11" vac sealer
Cookbooks: Meathead; Food Lab (Alt-Lopez); Salt Fat Acid Heat (Nosrat)
...and a partidge in a pear treeeeeeeeeee...
Super happy with my Pit Boss Copperhead 5 vertical pellet smoker. Delivers precisely as advertised. I got mine on sale for under US$600, but not sure what they're going for these days...
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Club Member
- Sep 2015
- 8034
- Colorado
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> Weber Genesis EP-330
> Grilla Grills Original Grilla (OG) pellet smoker with Alpha/Connect
> Pit Barrel Cooker (gone to a new home)
> WeberQ 2000 (on "loan" to a relative (I'll never see it again))
> Old Smokey Electric (for chickens mostly - when it's too nasty out
to fiddle with a more capable cooker)
> Luhr Jensen Little Chief Electric - Top Loader circa 1990 (smoked fish & jerky)
> Thermoworks Smoke
> 3 Thermoworks Chef Alarms
> Thermoworks Thermapen One
> Thermoworks Thermapen Classic
> Thermoworks Thermopop
> Thermoworks IR-GUN-S
> Anova sous vide circulator
> Searzall torch
> BBQ Guru Rib Ring
> WÜSTHOF, Dalstrong, and Buck knives
> Paprika App on Mac and iOS
Welcome from Colorado. Grilla fan and owner here … you’ve got a bazillion good choices out there … so have fun with that!
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Club Member
- Mar 2021
- 699
- 5,280 feet from Chicago
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Cookers:
WSM 18.5
Weber Genesis NG
Grilla Silverbac
Traeger 575
SNS Kettle
Accessories:
Thermapen
Signals X4
At our lake house I have a Traeger 575 that I impulsively bought a few years and a Grilla Silverbac I bought for my house. I spent a lot of time researching the pellet smoker for my house. I bought them about 9 months apart. Traeger has a great app and I haven’t had any issues with it in years. Grilla’s app if fine but I had a streak where I was constantly reconnecting my Silverbac to my WiFi. Not the end of the world. Mechanically speaking I haven’t and any issues with either one and they both turn out great food. While I like Traeger I find that Grilla was a better value which is why I went with it. I never really considered buying a Traeger actually. It has larger capacity, stainless steel grates and is made with higher quality components. And their customer service is amazing, something that is nonexistent with Traeger. But the first thing I did was set my budget.
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Like DaveD I also have a Pit Boss Copperhead 5 that serves me well. It was rigorously reviewed by Spinaker here on this website in 2020 when it first came out. If you look at price alone, you might consider Pit Boss to be an entry-level pellet smoker/grill compared to others. RecTeq has a faithful following for a very nice looking grill in the $1200 to $2000 range. I almost bought one of them before choosing the vertical CH 5 smoker.
Best of luck on your purchase.
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Club Member
- Mar 2020
- 3509
- Muskego, WI
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Current cookers:
Rec Tec RT700 "Bull" pellet cooker
Smokin-It model 2 electric smoker w/ Maverick 732 temp monitor and cold smoking kit
Weber Genesis 3 burner gas grill w/ rotisserie
Charbroil Grill2Go gas grill
Weber 22" Performer Deluxe kettle grill w/ThermoPro TP-20S temp monitor
Onlyfire rotisserie kit for 22" kettle
Weber Smokey Joe
SnS Deluxe
Vortex
The Orion Cooker convection cooker/smoker (two of them)
Pit Boss 29â€, 3 burner griddle
Joule Sous Vide circulator
Favorite beer: Anything that's cold!
Favorite cocktail: Bourbon neat
As noted above, the key starting point is determining your budget. Once you get that set, the field narrows. But as also noted above, there are many, many quality units at a huge range of price points. Set your budget, determine which features are most important to YOU, and do your research.
As for me, I have a Recteq RT-700 and love it. It’s about 3 1/2 years old now. The #1 reason I settled on it versus others is the warranty. Six year’s bumper to bumper. Haven’t needed it yet but the peace of mind is worth everything to me.
Good luck and happy shopping!!
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Club Member
- Dec 2015
- 2406
- NE OK - South of Bonesy
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Traeger BBQ124
Yoder YS480
Chargriller Duo gas/charcoal side-by side
Blackstone 36" griddle
Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24 propane smoker
*current project - 330 gallon offset stickburner in progress*
Personal firearms, home theater, home computing/networking, car audio enthusiast.
Rectec is pretty good stuff too - one of my good friends has one, we've had good results using his. I have a Yoder, while the construction is good, I find the temp variation from one side to another to be too much. Personally, I wouldn't buy another unless it were an incredible deal, which is how I got this one. It's a great smoker overall, but 70ºF or more temp variance from one corner to another is too much for me to really be pleased with. I find myself using it less and less over the years.
To be fair, I've also gotten the stickburner bug, so that's a factor as well.
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Club Member
- Mar 2020
- 4277
- Near Chicago, IL
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Current Portfolio:
Joule
PK300
Meathead’s Large Big Green Egg Loaded (see below)
Old (sold) Loves:
PBC
Weber 22" Premium
Masterbuilt Gravity 560
Akorn Kamado
Thermometers:
Thermopro wired
Thermoworks POP
Combustion Inc
Preferred Charcoal:
Masterbuilt Lump
Favorite Rubs:
Homemade (mainly MMD/Just Like Katz rub)
Other Accessories:
Big Green Egg Slow & Sear
Tandoori Skewers System for BGE
Split ceramic plates BGE
Smoking plate BGE
Mercer brisket slicing knife
Rapala brisket trimming knife
SS BBQ trays
NoCry Cut Resistant Gloves
LEM # 8 Meat Grinder
Lodge 5-Quart Dutch Oven + Skillet
Meat Claws
Grill Rescue Brush
Meat Fridge for dry aging
Favorite Whiskey/Beer:
Anything Peaty or anything from New Holland brewery
I have been impressed with the Grillas, particularly the OG.
I owned and recommend a MB560 which uses charcoal but is fan-controlled like a pellet smoker.
Masterbuilt® smokers deliver for those ready to master the art of smoking. With a full line of propane, electric and charcoal smokers, you can expect a worthwhile BBQ experience with a Masterbuilt smoker.
There is also a cabinet version.
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As stated above "Budget". With all the choices out there study long and hard spending just a little more may just up the quality! Temp swings seems to be a big topic with the lower end units. I know by experience that some of the controllers can be readjusted to tighten of the swings with the help of the customer services folks and some not so. I have a neighbor that has a small Pit boss he says that he cooks everything at 200 when I put my thermo on his grate to see his 200 was 265! I have had some up and down times with my Blaz'n Grill works Grid iron I went all in with all the add-on they had and custom color as well. My up side customer service worked with me to get my temp to just range 5 degrees up or down. My down fall was the powder coating as certain spots it lifted and flaked off. However the business changed hands since so when I complained they did replace all my bad parts. Bottom shelf at the wheels powder coating came off the welds they sent new shelf 20 x 30 inch piece. Sooo "Budget" "Warranty" "Customer service"
Hope this helps some!
Happy shopping!
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If you are looking at Pit Boss I would suggest that the lowest tier Traeger's are far from a good value quality and feature wise. I was shocked at how flimsy some of them feel compared to much cheaper grills. Their high end grills feel much better, and have a lot more features, but I personally feel they are extremely overpriced.
As others have said you really need to put a budget out there for streamlined suggestions. It's possible you're close to the price of a Grilla and if so they are a great value in their price range. There's a lot of pellet brands and models on the market these days, so tons of options to find the right grill for you.
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Club Member
- Dec 2021
- 1973
- Buffalo, NY
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Weber 22 Kettle
Santa Maria kettle attachment
LSG 20x32 Pellet smoker
Fireboard 2
Fireboard Spark
SNS
Work Sharp E-5 Electric Knife Sharpener
Fillet Knife 7" | Flexible Blade | Valhalla Series
I have a Traeger Pro 20 and a Lone Star Grillz pellet smoker. I was very happy with the Traeger and it served my well for 6 years. You can get this one for $595 on sale. I have never had an issue with mine.
I also just bought a Lone Star Grill pellet smoker that is in the @2500.00 price range. I would highly recommend this pellet grill. I have used mine a few times and have had no issues. One thing is that you will wait for the LSG, as production takes about 5 months to get to your door. But I think it is well worth the price. Just a great machine.
As you can see your budget plays a role with the price of pellet smokers.
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No, he doesn't use a smoke tube. And it does have noticeably less smoke flavor than the stickburner, absolutely. There's just no getting around it.
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DogFaced PonySoldier even with 100 smoketubes it's gonna taste different than a stickburner
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